on his mind, though he said, "Oh,
indeed," politely. She made some cabalistic marks on a square of paper
and turned to him with a somewhat startled expression, which faded at
once, and the mocking eyes looked full into his as she went on.

"You do not believe in anything I am telling you, and therefore I shall
speak quite frankly, certain that you will be neither cast down nor
elated by anything I can say. I think you are a physician; if not you
ought to be; you seem to have come from afar, and to be about to begin a
new phase in your life. It is well that you have two of the greatest of
the planets, Mars and Jupiter, as controlling influences, for you will
need them, and that very soon. You are at this moment in greater danger
than ever before has been your lot."

Jack could not repress a laugh. With youth, health, ability and love he
felt that it would take more than a stray comet to turn the currents of
his life awry. But the woman did not smile; he could see that much
through the gauzy yashmak, and her eyes grew grave and her forehead
contracted.

"I am glad you don't believe it," she said, "because I should not like
to tell you what I see if you did; before morning you will know whether
it is all the foolishness you think it."

He apologized. "I'm immensely interested," he said, "but I didn't know
any one regarded this sort of thing seriously. So far as you've gone
you've hit me off very well, and I don't mind telling you that I am a
physician, and I'm just back from the far East."

"Thank you," she said gravely. "Have you ever heard that if a man has
made love to a girl under the constellation of Cassiopeia he should not
marry until he has also made love under the Southern Cross? There is a
conjunction of malign planets at this time; they threaten your happiness
through love, through hate, through accident. If you have become
interested in any person born under Saturn, that is between the
twenty-first of December and the twentieth of January, particularly
about the seventh of January, you should certainly take time to consider
carefully, for there is nothing but wretchedness and misunderstanding in
such an alliance; there may be much that is attractive on the surface,
but you will find a complete lack of harmony, of similarity of tastes
and ambition that would leave you forever alone, and there is much
selfishness and stubborness of will. Saturn and Scorpio are not good
marital allies." He gave her a searchin